The Guardian
by Anicadelalala
Summary: There is a new masked face in town, and Nick Fury wants Spidey and the gang to recruit her for the team, only thing is she refuses every time she's asked. But, along the way though with more run ins, she becomes an ally and friend to the team. But there is a reason why she wont join S.H.I.E.L.D, a reason she is keeping secret from her new friends. Just what is it shes hiding?
1. New Girl in Town

**Hello! Thank you for clicking the link and deciding to read my story! Now I also have this story uploaded on AO3, so I will add a link at the end of the chapter if you're interested.**

**I've had this story in development for about a year or so now, and please tell me what you think! I could use the feedback! :)**

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><p>If you ever asked Andrea, she'll tell you she hated her job, and she'd be telling the truth.<p>

Now don't get her wrong, being a magical guardian was fun at times, even a bit rewarding, but there where times where everything seemed to just get _way_ out of hand. She never wanted this job in the first place, but she didn't really have a choice in the matter.

In retrospect it seemed pretty simple, keep the human and magic communities separate from each other, protect the last few magic forest and mountain areas, only thing other than those was making sure the magic seals on certain cursed items or doors hidden throughout the world stayed intact, maintained, and hidden. Easy as pie right?

Okay, so it does seem a lot, even for a sixteen year old witch especially so, but it is not Andrea's fault that she's doing this alone.

Many centuries ago, back when the magic on earth was in a golden age, it was never just one guardian doing all these tasks, it was actually several of them, all of whom where related to each other. A whole family of guardians! There was a reasoning being for this, going even further back, when the gold age was approaching, the dark forces where being wiped out, but some where far too powerful to be destroyed. Andrea's ancestors where blessed by the gods (or so it is believed) with the ability to create seals powerful enough to imprison the dark forces, but they would only work if the seals were maintained and looked after. So Andrea's ancestors became the guardians of these seals, and all other magical beings to keep things in check so the dark forces would not rise to so much power again. Their height in power was during the golden age, and things seemed to be going right for everyone.

Then the humans started killing witches and other magical beings.

While most humans today hardly, or not remember this at all, the magic community as a whole have never forgotten this. They called it 'The War of Ashes', due to so many being killed by being burned alive. While they did have magic to fight back with, the humans had far more in numbers, and soon all things magic ether got killed, or went into hiding. Now the magic community lives in secret, among but also separate from the humans. The guardians, Andrea's ancestors, where especially targeted by humans, believed by them to not be guarding evil forces at bay, but hiding items of great power selfishly for themselves. Their numbers dwindle, and they too went into hiding, hardly anyone in the family survived the war. Fast forward to modern day, and the only ones left of the family who could maintain the seals were Andrea and her mother.

That is until her mother died.

She was only nine years old when it happened, she wasn't even able to properly mourn. Andrea was immediately throw into her mother's old position as guardian by the high magic council, a group of leaders from all the different races within the magic community, while she was very young for the position they had no choice. Someone had to keep watch over the seals and maintain balance or else evil would soon enough break from the seals or someone would come along and free them, and the only option was Andrea.

Fast forward seven years later, we find our heroine in a difficult position, and by that I mean there was a newly hatched baby wyvern[1] the size of an elephant running rampant in New York city with Andrea trailing not too far after it.

How did things escalate so quickly? Andrea had just finished strengthening the barrier that kept humans out a magic forest in Wales, when a wood-wife[2] had called her over asking for help. A group of pixies[3] had entrapped her hair in a fishing net and she could not get out of it. Just as Andrea turned around after freeing the wood-wife, she saw a group of pixies (probably the same who trapped the wood-wife) going through her bag that she set aside a few moments before to get her pocket knife.

When the pixies realized that they had been found out, they flew off with her bag. Andrea ran after them, shouting many curse words and threatening to pluck their wings off. When she finally caught up with them. She saw they had arrived at a wyvren nest, with five eggs and the mother no where to be seen at the moment. The pixies were going through all her things and messing with them, throwing potions at a tree, shredding her papers, one had even managed to get a hold of her phone! As Andrea tried getting her things back, one of the five eggs had started to hatched without her noticing, and within moments there was a baby wyvren, wondering who these funny creatures where in front of him and if one was his mama.

Andrea had been fighting one of the pixies over a portal key which she had for emergencies, when she finally noticed the wyvren hatchling, the pixie she had been fighting took this opportunity to snatch the portal key and used it, open a blue and glowing portal leading to New York city. Before Andrea could react and close the portal, the pixie with her phone had somehow managed to play (very loudly) Highway to Hell by AC/DC, thus startling the hatchling, who ran straight into the portal without thinking. After a quick string of curses, Andrea grabbed the portal key out of the pixie's hands and made a mad dash for the portal after the hatchling.

Which brings us to where we are now, a rampaging baby wyvern who can't even fly yet knocking over cars, food carts, shooting small balls of fire from his mouth, and freaking out over every loud noise left and right.

"Wait! Hold up-" Andrea didn't even have time to finish her sentence, because she had to duck from barely getting hit by a fire ball. It was times like this she was glad she had her gear on. Nothing like a magic cloak, light armor, mask, and a pair of goggles to make sure you don't roast alive.

"Damn it, calm down!" she shouted while she raced after him, she honestly didn't even know why so was trying to reason with him. He literally just hatched five minuets ago, he probably couldn't really understand her yet.

The wyvren finally stopped at an intersection, having no idea where to go and freaking out over all the cars honking and people shouting at him. He thrashed about, scared and confused. Andrea was able to catch up with him and stopped to catch her breath before approaching him.

"It's okay, just calm down, I can take you back ho-" For the second time that day she didn't get to finish her sentence, because the wyvern hit her with his tail and set her flying into the air, making her crash into a nearby taxi. The wyvren continued to growl, thrash about, and spit small balls of fire in random directions.

"Ahahaha! Man that was hilarious."

"Nova!"

"What? You gotta admit that was pretty funny, the way she just went, FWOOSH!"

Andrea let out a groan while she struggled to get off the (now crushed) taxi. Gods, this just was not her day today was it? A white gloved hand had extended out to her face, offering to help her up. Andrea gladly took the hand and was soon on her feet, in front of...a girl in a white full body costume with cat ears and a long ass pony tail? And behind her were... four other teens (or so she guessed) in tights and spandex? Andrea mentally mused to herself about how humans were so weird.

"Hey you alright?" the girl asked as she let go of Andrea's hand.

"Yeah, yeah I'll be- LOOK OUT!" Andrea pushed the girl to the ground as a car went flying into their direction, nearly crushing them. Both girls groaned and Andrea helped the white masked girl off the ground. "This is getting way too out of hand." She said as she dusted herself off. "I gotta find a way to stop this."

"You? Stop that thing? Dude that thing knocked the wind out of you barely three seconds ago." Stated a tall, muscular boy wearing sunglasses, unlike the rest who wore masks.

"I have to, it's my job." Andrea simply stated as she started making her way towards the wyvren, but then one of the boys, dressed in a blue and red suit jumped in front of her with his arms out to stop her.

"Whoa there, I know you rookie heros are always ready to throw yourself into the fight, but I think maybe you should start with purse snatchers and not like, oh I don't know, a **_dragon_**!" he emphasized on the dragon part.

"Okay three things, one it's a _wyvren_, _not_ a dragon. Two, you can't tell me what to do. And three-" Andrea paused mid sentence, the wyvren was ready to launch another fireball, only this time it seemed it was going to be much much bigger, and also headed their direction. Andrea jumped in front of the boy just as the fireball launched from the hatchling's mouth

"_Contego_!"[4] Andrea shouted as she spread out her arms, the moment she did, a blue force field made out of magic surround the six teens, protecting them from the harsh fire. As soon as the fireball dispersed the shield of magic fell down.

"Dude, I gotta learn how to do that." Said the boy in a helmet aloud to no one in particular.

"Focus Nova! We gotta stop that thing!" The red and blue clad teen shouted to the one called Nova, he then turned to the boy in a green suit and yellow mask. "Iron Fist, you've slayed a dragon before right? How do we take this thing down?" Iron Fist opened his mouth to respond, but before he could say anything Andrea interjected into the conversation.

"Whoa whoa _whoa_! You will _not_ lay a finger on that wyvren! _It's only a baby_! It barely hatched no less that fifteen minuets ago!" Andrea snapped at the boy who even dare make the suggestion of hurting the wyvren.

"_That_ thing is a baby? Could have fooled me." The girl said sarcastically.

"He's scared, he was just born and has no idea whats going on, I need him to stay still long enough so I can calm it down." Andrea replied. "Besides, if that wyvren gets hurt and his mother finds out what happened, things will be _a lot_ worse that this"

"Well alright." The boy in blue and red let out a sigh "Got any ideas?" he inquired Andrea.

"We'll need for him to focuses on something other than the cars, like something shiny. Wyvren babies love to look at and chew on shiny stuff." She reciprocated.

Immediately after she said that, everyone (well everyone except Andrea) turned to look at Nova. Nova then noticed everyone looking at him and let out a sigh.

"Why do I have to be wyvren bait? Can't Spider-Man or White Tiger do it?" He whined.

"Because you are the shiniest! Now go do your thing so blue berry here can do hers." Spider-Man retorted. Andrea raised an eyebrow at the nickname, now why would he call her blue berry? She then realized she did kinda look like a blue berry, seeing how except for some of her armor and her goggle frames, she was wearing mostly light blue, maybe she should work on that..

Nova let out another sigh and flew over to where the wyvren was, shining brightly as he did. "Hey! scale face! Lookie lookie! Over here!" Nova shouted while waving his arms around.

"Scale face? Really?" Retorted the boy in sunglasses.

"Hey I like to see you come up with a better name, _Power Man_." Nova retorted with a snort. Just as he did the wyvren looked over and saw Nova, his eyes lit up, and the hatcling proceeded to stomp over to Nova, bearing his teeth. Nova backed up as the wyvren got closer. "Um, any time now guys! I rather _not_ get eaten today!"

As soon as they got closes enough, Andrea leaped up into the air, and landed right on the wyvren's face, clutching onto his horns for dear life. The wyvren got startled and roared, he started to thrash about again to throw her off.

"_That_ was her plan to calm it down?!" Spider-Man shouted. For a moment the five teens thought she was crazy, when suddenly the wyvren stopped thrashing around. It slowed to a complete stop and quieted down, as soon as he did they could hear a voice, singing.

It was Andrea, she had her forehead pressed to the wyvren's, both their eyes glowed a faint blue as she sang softly in a langue none of them could understand. The wyvren gave her a look, a look that seem to say he understood her, and that he knew her intentions. The wyvren gently laid his head on the ground to let Andrea off once she finished singing, and he stayed there as Andrea stroked his head gently.

"There there, you where just scared, weren't you?" Andera inquired. The wyvren gave out a soft rumble, as if to say yes to her question. "It's alright." She said as she pulled out her portal key. "I can get you home, just follow me, okay?" Andrea stuck the portal key into the air and gave it a turn, and suddenly in front of her a portal appeared leading to where they last were, the wyvren nest.

They five teens looked on with awe as Andrea led the wyvren into the portal, but before she went in though she turned to them and gave them a small wave.

"Thank you" She said, and you couldn't really tell under her mask, but she was smiling.

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><p>Andrea let out a content sigh as she watched the baby wyvren and his four siblings who had hatched when they arrived, being fussed over by their mother. The pixies long gone, and her stuff returned to her. As Andrea looked on at the happy family she couldn't help but feel something stir within her chest that made her feel content.<p>

If you ever asked Andrea she'd tell you she hated her job.

And she'd be lying.

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><p><strong>[1] Wyvern - A type of giant lizard that looks like a dragon, although unlike a dragon it only has two back legs and no front legs. It's wings on occasion act as front legs.<strong>

**[2] Wood-Wife - Beautiful maidens who are known for wearing leaves for clothes and having generally long hair that live in very old trees. If one happend upon a traveler and ask them for help, she would give them a pouch full of wood chips as a reward. Those who took the chips would find that the wood chips have turned to gold once they left the forest.**

**[3] Pixies - Mischevious small creatures with wings who want nothing more than to cause those around it misery**

**[4] Contego - Latin for protection**

**And that's that! I hoped you enjoyed chapter one of my fic! Please tell me what you think and what you think I should work on in my writing. I would appreciate the feedback. Also before you ask, yes several of the spells in the story will be told in Latin, I chose it mostly because I find Latin fun. I wanted to use anglo-frisian runes, but it was a bit hard for me to understand and I didn't want to use it too incorrectly ;3; Also, I plan to post what Andrea's Guardian gear looks like soon, I've just had some issues because I don't own a tablet nor a good camera.**

**Link to the story on AO3: ** /works/2781086/chapters/6238898

**See you next chapter! :D**


	2. Meetings and Late Night Talks

"And then she just walked it calmly through a portal she made and_ poof!_ No more dragon." Finished Peter as the team and him told Nick Fury about what had happened with the wyvren indecent and about the new face they saw just a few hours ago.

"I thought she said it was a wyvren." Luke interjected after Peter finished talking, but the brunet just waved him off.

"Same thing, both are giant lizards that can roast you alive."

Luke gave a small shrug. "I'm just saying, she seemed pretty insistent on the wyvren part."

"Oh you're telling me!" Sam interrupted. "After webhead even suggested hurting the thing she went _nuts!_ I thought she was gonna throttle him." Sam laughed at the last part while Peter shot a glare at him. "Oh also, that is the first and _last_ time you guys make me lizard bait."

"And deprive those poor lizards from your shinning personality? Perish the thought bucket head." Peter said sarcastically.

"Hey-"

"Alright settle down you two." Nick Fury interrupted before things could get out of hand. Both teens left out a frustrated groan, but they did back down. "Now, did any of you happen to get this girl's name?" All five teens shook their heads 'no' .

"We were far too focused on the task at hand for any formalities." Danny added. Nick Fury nodded and turned to look out the window, in deep thought.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to keep an eye out for her for the time being."

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><p>"Andrea, open this door <strong><em>right now <em>** young lady."

Andrea ignored the voice coming from behind her bedroom door, and instead continued to stare up at the ceiling from her bed. No sound could be heard from her room, not even a 'caw' from Waren, a raven who was her familiar. Waren was currently, perched on the headboard of Andrea's bed, looking down at her.

"Andrea this isn't funny, open the door." The rattle of the doorknob could be heard as the voice spoke. A small but proud smile formed on Andrea's face as Waren gave his head a small shake in disapproval. Not only had Andrea locked the door, she barricaded it with every piece of furniture in her room save for her bed. No one would be getting in, not unless an orc charged at the door.

"You can't hide in your room forever you know." Waren warned the suborned teen, at least it sounded like he said that to her. No one could ever understand what Waren was saying, only Andrea could interpret what the raven was talking about.

"..._Fine_." she mumbled. Andrea raised up her hand and snapped her fingers. Within seconds all the furniture floated back to their proper places, and the door gave a 'click' as it unlocked.

A tall, pale, middle age woman walked into the room, with her ginger hair tied up in a messy bun. She pulled at the sweater she was wearing and looked over at Andrea with her gray eyes and let out a small sigh. Slowly she made her way over to the girl and sat down at the edge of her bed. "Andrea we need to talk.." she said softly, as if talking to a wounded animal.

"Oh so now you want to talk.." Andrea murmured as she sat up. She glared at the woman in front of her with her piercing green eyes. Her short, dark brown hair was a mess from lying down. Her eyes looked puffy, like if she had been crying. Her brown skin was flushed, especially near her nose and freckled cheeks, which made it seem even more likely that she had been crying. "You didn't even ask me!" she hissed. "You can't go making decisions like this without asking me first, you have no right, you're not my mother!"

The woman ran her hand through her hair and let out a sigh. She knew Andrea would be upset about this at first, but she didn't expect her to be **_this_** upset. "No, no I'm not your mother. I can never replace your mother, but." She said sternly. "Your mother made sure that if anything happened to her, I would be the one to take care of you. So yes, I do have 'the right' Andrea, your mother gave me that right."

"But why Aerona? Why a non-magic high school? I already finished all my high school courses, early even! All I'd learn is stuff I already know, and I'd have to keep my magic a secret, and I'd be the only witch there, and-"

"It's not because of your education Andie, it's because of your well being." Aerona interrupted. Andrea paused, and looked very confused.

"I don't understand, what do you mean my 'well being'?" She asked. Aerona sighed once more and placed a hand on Andrea's shoulder.

"All you ever do is your guardian duties, and when you're not you're reading dusty old spell books all day in and day out. Andie, you've been home schooled your whole life! You're done with high school but I still see you study like a mad woman! That's why I enrolled you in non-magical high school, so you can have a break from magic. So maybe you have a short time to not worry about your duties or the council each day. I just want you to live like a normal teenager Andie, I want you to make friends, date someone, go out and actually talk to someone your own age and not a crow."

"**_Raven_**." Waren corrected, but all Aerona heard was a angry squawk, so he was ignored.

"Look how about this, you go for a month and if you really don't like it I'll pull you out ok?" Aerona pleaded. Andrea stayed silent, mulling over what Aerona had said in her mind. After what seemed like an eternity to Aerona, Andrea spoke up.

"...What's it called?" she asked. Aerona eyes lit up and she gave her a small smile.

"Midtown High, it's not too far from her and I know you'll just love it!" She planted a kiss on Andrea's forehead and gave her a quick hug before getting up from the bed. "You start on Monday, so get some sleep okay? We'll get you some school supplies in the morning." Andrea only nodded as Aerona left the room, after she closed the door she let out a big sigh she had been holding in and flopped back down onto her bed.

"So you're really gonna do this?" Waren asked from his spot on the bedpost.

"She probably wouldn't leave me alone until I agreed, besides it might not be so bad." Andrea said with a yawn as she pulled the covers over her.

"Let's just hope you're right for once.." Waren said reluctantly. Andrea stuck her tongue out playfully at the cranky raven.

"Goodnight bird brain~" she said in a sing-song voice.

"Goodnight stubborn baby.." and those were the last words Andrea heard before she slowly fell asleep.

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><p><strong>Sorry that this chapter is a bit short! But for what I have planned next I would prefer to post in the next chapter, I assure you it will be longer than this one!<strong>

**Please if you can leave a comment and let me know what you think of the story so far! I could really use the feed back, it'll make the story better!**


	3. Politics Can Be Confusing

**Okay first off, thank you for the lovely reviews! and sorry for the lack of updates. I've been busy with school, especially because it's senior year.**

**Now this chapter has been very difficult for me to write due to the dreaded writers block, and to be honest I wish it was longer, but what can you do? Please enjoy!**

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><p>At first all she see's is the darkness, she can't tell where she is and what's going on. She tries to stand but it's hard, soon she gets her balance and her eyes have adjusted to the dark, and she sees she's in a forest. This forest just seems so familiar to her, almost as if...<p>

**No**, not this forest. No, no, no, no! She knows what happens here, she doesn't want to be here. No please, **she doesn't want to see this again, please no please!**

She starts to run as fast as she can, the forest seems so dark, so endless, so **dead**. She thinks if she runs she can make it out and everything will be okay, she'll be okay. Suddenly she runs into a wall made of trees, they're grown so close together and are blocking her way. She bangs her fists against the trees, begging for them to move and to let her through, **oh please** let her through she doesn't want to see this again, not again **OH PLEASE**-

"Andrea? What's wrong honey?" a voice long silenced speaks out from behind her. She stops her fist and just starts to shake, she knows what is going to happen next, and shes thinks that maybe if she doesn't look it wont be so bad. "Sweetie are you okay?" The voice calls out again.

Suddenly a shadow looms over her, and then the screaming voice screams for what seems to be eternity, she can hear crunching sounds mixed with the scream as a matalic smell filled the air. The voice screams and screams and finally stops, but the crunching continues and the smell gets stronger. She falls to her knees and beginnings to sob, why did this happen? She wants to go home, she wants her family, **she wants her mother**. But she isn't there, she never will be again. After the crunching stops she hears a bone chilling laugh, it's a deep laugh and it sounds horse and scratchy. She can feel the ground slightly shake as it gets closer. She's still crying but she's too terrified to move a muscle and just sits there on the ground waiting for her fate.

"Oh little sheep~" a voice long feared speaks out from behind her. She doesn't known why but something forces her to turn her head ever so slightly to see the owner of the voice. All she sees in the darkness is ginormous pair of eyes, pure red and narrowed at her. Then she sees a pair of just as if not larger pair of sharp teeth pulled into a grin, between the teeth were things that made her want to throw up at the sight of it. It's coming closer and she can't move, oh gods it's going to get her, it's going to get her. She screams but no one can hear her, not here. She shields herself with her arms and starts to call out.

"SOMEONE HELP, PLEASE. FATHER-"

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><p>"Andrea get down here!" Yelled Aerona from downstairs, pulling Andrea from her nightmare. Slowly Andrea sat up and wrapped her arms around herself. Her breathing was heavy and her heart seemed to refuse to calm down. Slowly, Andrea rocked herself back and forth to calm herself down. She hadn't had a nightmare like that in a while..<p>

"Does that woman ever shut up?" Muttered Waren as he awoke from his perch on the headboard of Andrea's bed, unaware of his master's night terror. "Let's see what she wants, gods know she wont shut up other wise." Waren said as he flew over to Andrea's shoulder to perch himself there. All the she did was nod and got herself out of bed, pushing the nightmare to the back of her mind, trying her best to ignore it.

Andrea head out her bedroom door and downs the stairs to see just what the fuss was about. She saw Aerona, still in her pajamas from the night before, at the kitchen table, a cup of coffee in one hand and a letter in another. Aerona let out a sigh as the girl approached and handed her the letter once she was close enough. Andrea raised an eyebrow at this, she yelled at her from downstairs just for a letter? That was a bit odd, unless it was from...

"Oh no.." Andrea mumbled as she flipped the letter over, seeing the all to familiar red waxed seal and the emblem on it. "Oh no" She said a bit louder this time, to no one in particular. Andrea slumped down in the chair across from Aerona and let out a loud groan. This was the last thing she needed this early in the morning.

"It just came in right now, and they used the red wax this time so it must be pretty important." Aerona yawned as she took a sip of her coffee and reached for the newspaper on the table. "It's probably a summon."

Low and behold, she was right. The letter it didn't really say much other than to report to the High Council of Magical Beings for a meeting that day as soon as she got the letter because they had important business to discus about her duties.

"What do they want this time? I bet it's just Councilman Akkar calling me in to lecture on how I write my reports again, what do you think?" Andrea looked up at Aerona for a comment, but when she looked up Aerona was paused mid-sip at her coffee, staring at the newspaper in disbelief. "Aerona? What is it?"

"I think I might have an idea why you're begging summoned this early.." Her caretaker said as she passed the newspaper over to Andrea, taking a long sip from her coffee.

Andrea raised an eyebrow, because why would the council bother with human news? Non the less, Andrea looked over at the article in front of her and almost had a heart attack.

The headline read 'Newbie Super Saves New York City from Giant Lizard!', and the pictured shown was of when she made that barrier to block the Wyvren's flames from roasting her and those supers she meet alive. How did anyone manage the time for this? This thing was literally on a rampage! Andrea had never been more grateful for the work gear she always wore when on duty. Her hooded cloak that was pulled up at the time hid her face quite nicely. The goggles and mask she wore hid the rest of her face very well too, so at least she didn't have to worry about anyone knowing who she was, but still...

"Oh god I forgot about this..." Andrea muttered aloud to no one in particular. She really had forgotten about it, after the thing with the wyvren she had still had a million other duties to attended to. Like making sure the orcs tribes didn't kill each other, or to stop some mermaids from wandering over to a human beach and start eating them alive, or to make sure that some adventure hungry humans who's memories she wiped didn't come across a dragon nesting ground and get roasted alive! By the time she came home last night Aerona sprung her idea of sending her to a high school on her and moved that incident even further into the back of her mind.

"Forgot what? To tell me about this? or that you're not supposed to show magic to Non-Magics?" Aerona asked, her demeanor was calm, but there was an edge in her voice that made Andrea's skin prickle. "How did this happen?"

"Well there where these pixies, and they got my bag-"

"Whoa whoa wait, are you telling me pixies of all things are behind this?"

"Y-Yes, you see they-" But before she could finish Aerona raised up her hand for her to stop. She obeyed and sat there quietly, a feeling of dread spread throughout her. She looked at Aerona's face and didn't see so much as anger, but someone who was tired.

"I'm very disappointed in you Andrea, I mean pixies, really?" Andrea could only bring herself to silently nodded in response.

"Oh like you could do so much better" Waren snapped at Aerona, glaring as best as a bird could. Aerona, who only heard a sqwak, ignored him, like she always did. The woman let out a sigh as she pushed back her hair and looked up at Andrea.

"Best get ready and head out, they don't like to kept waiting." Again Andrea could only force herself to nod. As she got up from the chair she heard a whisper come from Aerona, who was probably speaking out loud to herself, and it made Andrea stop cold for a split second.

"Her mother would have never let this happen, ah that girl.."

With those stinging words embedded in her heart, Andrea continued on her way to her room to get dressed. Waren, who heard what Aerona has said, gave his master a consoling nudge.

"Come on now, it won't be that bad, just wait and see." Andrea gave him her best fake smile and nodded, hoping he might be right.

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><p>Oh it was going to be bad, Andrea just knew it. It was going to all go horribly wrong and she'll be nothing but a smear on the floor by the time this was all over.<p>

At least this is what Andrea told herself as she headed towards the Magical Beings Embassy. Currently Waren and her where deep underground in a place called Cavern City. Cavern City recited very deep underground, deep enough that Non-Magics would never notice it. It was one of the many underground settlements that had cropped up in the years of hiding of humans. If you didn't live in the forest areas that Andrea kept watch on, or hidden among Non-Magics with a glamour spell, which only the wealthy could afford to keep up, if you didn't look human enough, you lived in a place like Cavern City. Most of the Magic community lived in places like this, and Cavern City was by far one of the largest underground cities there was. They even had an illusion spell on the ceiling 24/7 that made it look like the sky above ground, unlike some of the smaller ones that had lanterns.

"Ah Andrea! What are doing here? Don't you have the day off?" Andrea looked up as she entered the embassy and saw Flora, a Faun[1], and the receptionist at the embassy. Flora, like most people, didn't know what Andrea's job really was. The council said that the less people knew about the seals and things hidden in there, the less people would go looking for them to try to open them. So officially she was one of Councilman Akkar's assistants, the Elven councilor. With that cover up, everyone save for the council members thought she was just a normal young witch who was over worked.

"Yeah, but um, Akkar called me in right now, he wanted to talk to me.." Andrea gave a small shrug and a smile.

"Oh that Akkar, I bet he's just going to lecture you again about how you file things. I don't know why his people keep electing him, most of the elves I know don't like him."

"Well he get's the job done, sorry Flora but he said it was urgent so.."

"Oh yes yes, go along. Take sometime off for yourself dear when you're done, you have bags under your eyes.."

"Noted!" Andrea said over he shoulder as she headed towards the council chambers. She let out a small sigh as she walked on, feeling more tired than ever. Maybe Aerona was right, she did need a break from magic. She still didn't really understand why a human school though yet, but then again, Aerona always knew what she was doing even if it seemed a bit strange. Andrea just wished she talked to her about first before she enrolled her, it seemed everyone always did that. The council with her work, Aerona with her personal life, even her father-

"Well go on, knock already." Waren sqwaked. Andrea was snapped out of her thoughts, she'd finally made it to the door of the Council Chambers and had been standing in front of it for the past twenty seconds without realizing it. Andrea shook her thoughts from her head, took a deep breath, and with all her courage, knocked on the door.

"You may enter." Drawled a voice from behind the door. Before she could change her mind, Andrea forced herself to open the door and walked inside.

Inside where all four council members, all sitting behind a large wooden table that took up most of the room. The one sitting on the far left was Councilwoman Ordra, the Orc councilor. She was by far most the biggest person in the room, even when sitting down. Her expression across her green face was neutral, like it was most of the time. While Orcs may have been portrayed as stereotypical savage in most things, Ordra was anything but that. She was like a great warrior, always knew when and how to strike, but instead of a sword, she used her words and her wisdom. She gave Andrea a nod of acknowledgement as she walked it, and Andrea nodded back.

As she looked to the left of Ordra, there was Councilwoman Bia, the Dwarf Councilor. Even though you could see her from her waist up at the table, she seemed so small compared to Ordra while at the table. Despite that, Bia was fierce, and an excellent diplomat. Any who underestimated her were usually proved wrong the moment they start talking to her. Bia had a stern look on her face, like how a mother would look at a child who had just misbehaved when Andrea looked her way, and didn't make any move to give her anything but her current expression

Andrea hurriedly looked away and meet her eyes with Councilor Robin's, the Wixen[2] Councilor. They gave Andrea a small, friendly smile, which made her feel a bit better. Robin was probably the nicest person in the room and one of the most talented Wix[3] Andrea has meet. They always seemed to sympathize with her and the nicest of the four to her. They never really told Andrea why, she assumes though it might be because they feel bad for her. Andrea was forced into this job very young and had to grow up a bit quick, and they sometimes had a look of sadness or sympathy when they talked to her, especially when it was about her duties. Andrea returned the smile to Robin and gave them a small wave of hello.

"Well, nice to see you're on time." Andrea automatically winced when she heard those words. As she turned around she saw none other than Councilman Akkar, the Elven councilor. He, out of all the people in the room, probably disliked Andrea the most. Robin liked her, Ordra was indifferent, Bia was a bit nasty but nothing too bad, but Akkar? It seemed what ever came out of her mouth made him want to scowl. He was also the oldest council member in the room, he was even their when her mother first started out as a guardian. Despite all these things Andrea respected the man. He was an bit of an ass to her yes, but he was a good leader, there is a reason why he's had this position for so long. Everything he did was out of concern for his people and others, just like all the other council members.

"Well, you said it was urgent, so I rushed right over. What seems to be the problem?" Andrea inquired, she shuffled her feet as she looked down. She of course knew the problem, but she a small part of her hoped that it was wrong.

"We are gather here today because you exposed magic to Non-Magics!" Bia answered before Akkar could open his mouth, her fists slammed onto the table which made Warren jump from his spot on Andrea's shoulder a bit. Diplomat she may be, Bia still had the worst temper of the group, and it sometimes got to her.

"Bia please, let's use our words, not our fists." Robin calmly stated as they placed a hand on Bia's shoulder. Bia shot a glare at Robin, but listened to their words and folded her arms into her lap. She still let out a sigh and another nasty look to Andrea.

"While I would not have said it like that, Bia is correct. We need to discuss your actions yesterday afternoon when you exposed magic." As she listen to Akkar's words Andrea got even more nervous than before. She felt a lump in her throat form, and her heart started to race. Waren noticed these things and gave Andrea a small nudge, as if to tell her she had nothing to fear.

"O-Oh, look I know it looks bad but no one got hurt! They don't even think it was magic, just a science experiment gone wrong! Look I can explain what happen but I didn't mean to-"

"Clam yourself child, you are not being punished for this." Ordra interrupted, speaking for the first time since she got there.

"...I-I'm not?" Andrea asked, the fear slowly left her body, but it was now being filled confusion. "Why not? Not that I want to mind you, but like...didn't I do something wrong?"

"From the news reports we have collected from Non-Magics papers and news stations, you handle the situation quite well, but we would like to hear your account of these events. That's why we called you." Robin clarified. Andrea felt a wave of relief hit her, she took a deep breath and nodded. She told her story to the council as best she could, making sure to not leave any detail out.

"And after I calmed it I managed to send it back to where it belonged." Andrea finished.

"Pixies though, really?" Bia asked in disbelief. Andre nervously shrugged and gave a small, nervous laugh.

"I must say I'm impressed." Akkar spoke up after Andrea finished. Andrea paused for a moment and gave Akkar a blank stare, confused by the sudden complement.

"R-Really?"

"Yes, you handle the situation very well. No one was surprisingly, seriously hurt and you kept your cool. You did the best you could." What almost looked like a small smile graced his face, and Andrea was dumb folded.

"T-Thank you sir." Andrea replied, her ears started to turn red and the lump in her throat came back. Bia gave Akkar a confused stare, wondering if those words really did come out of his mouth. Ordra just shook her head and murmured something along the line of 'that old man is going soft' under her breath. Robin had a smile on their face, and chose this moment to speak on the matter.

"See, as me and Ordra said, this could be very beneficial to us." Robin told Akkar. At those words Akkar let out a sigh, the smile now gone and replaced with a scowl.

"Robin, as much sense as it makes. We can not come to a decision until we all agree on what to do."

"But she's already meet some of them! Just a few more good deeds and they'll be begging her to join!"

"Robin is right, we should act now if this is to be successful" Interrupted Ordra.

"Not until we have come to a proper agreement! I still think this idea is ludicrous, it will not end well I tell you." Bia snapped at Ordra. Ordra scowled at the dwarf woman, despite how much she towered over her Bia was not put off in the slightest, and returned the glare.

"Um.., what are you talking about?" Andrea finally asked after the four of them had gone back and forth like this. They all turned to her, like if they just noticed she was here in the room as well. Akkar let out another sigh and spoke up.

"Councilors Robin and Ordra have come up with an idea of exposing the Magic Community to Non-Magics that will some how have them accept us not end up in another war." Andrea was taken aback, expose magic? It was literally in her job description to make sure something like that didn't happen. Non-Magics can hardly accept one of their own who happens to have a different skin color. How could they accept them?

"It's official, the council has lost it." Pipped up Waren from Andrea's shoulder.

"How is that even possible without something going horribly wrong?" Andrea asked, flabbergasted.

"With you" Robin replied, a huge grin on their face.

"...me?" Now Andrea was even more confused.

"More and more non-magics are becoming what they call 'supers', some even to appear to be around your age. If, along with your duties, you acted as such you might be able to join their ranks and gain a positive image for not only Wixen, but the magic community as a whole. Our people would no longer have to hide." Added Ordra, but she let out a small sigh. "Akkar and Bia do no agree with us, but we think this could be the first step forward of living in peace, and not fear."

"All you would have to do is what you normally do, just near non-magics! Then you could possibly join, um, what where they called again Ordra?" Robin asked

"I believe they are called S.H.I.E.L.D, at least one I know of."

"Akkar and I of course, think this is a horrible idea." Interrupted Bia. "Even if you manged to gain some of the non-magics trust, you will not win them all over. Also, if you slip up even **once**, they'll be on you like hounds."

"Bia is correct, noble as the idea is, it is still just an idea. We would risk to much going along with such a plan, our best bet is remain hidden as we have these past centuries until we can ensure something more solid." Akkar added.

"We need to stop playing safe and we need to act!" Robin let out a frustrated sigh, they turned and looked at Andrea, a pleading look in their eyes. "Andrea, what do you think of all this?"

Andrea just stared at them, dumbfounded. They wanted her to join S.H.I.E.L.D? To be a poster girl for the magic community? She thought over their words and tried to let it process throughout her mind. The idea was noble yes, but a very big risk. So many things could go wrong, could they even trust them? And not only that..

Dimly in the back of her mind, Andrea could recall the faint smell of well kept leather and paper. A wide, friendly smile and messy hair. The mummer of soothing words that calmed her nerves and made her feel like there was nothing she couldn't do if she tried.

If anything went wrong, hell, if the moment she ever joined S.H.I.E.L.D,** they **would be screwed over. Even if she did her best, the moment S.H.I.E.L.D looked into more than her name, and they would, for they had a reputation of being noisy. The moment they learned enough about her, what little she had left in this world would be taken from her.

She **would not** let that happen.

Andrea took a deep breath and pushed any doubt into the back of her mind. She looked straight at the council, and spoke. "With all due respect councilor, I don't think this is a very smart idea. There are too many 'if' factors. The Non-Magics are still having trouble with their mutants, if they can't fully accept them how could they accept those who don't exactly look human within our community? We should wait until we have something more solid, like councilmen Akkar said."

Robin was a bit taken aback, they where sure Andrea would have agreed with them. Akkar took this moment of silence to step back into the conversation. "Well said Guardian, we will consider your words. You may be excused."

Andrea somberly nodded goodbye and headed out the room, not looking back. She just wanted to go back home and get some sleep, gods knew she needed it. She waved goodbye to Flora as she walked out of the building and let out a breath she didn't even realize she'd been holding.

"Where those really the reasons why you didn't agree with Robin?" Waren asked as they continued to walk in silence. Andrea didn't answer, but she didn't have to. Waren understood and didn't press further. "Hey, I think that dinner run by those goblins down the street let in familiars, can we check it out?"

Andrea couldn't help but feel a small smile creep up on her face, she gently petted Waren's head and said. "Why not? To be honest, I could use some food..."

Warren let out a happy, nonsense sqwak, which made Andrea laugh. The two of them headed down the street, pushing their worries in the back of their head for another day.

* * *

><p><strong>[1] Faun- A half human, half goat creature.<strong>  
><strong>[2] Wixen- A gender neutral term for the witchwizard community. Most people in the magical community use this term when referring to the human magic users, due to the fact that the people who make up the Wixen community are more than just one gender.**  
><strong>[3] Wix- A gender neutral term for a magic user instead of using the terms Witch or Wizard.<strong>

**I did not invent the terms Wixen and Wix, I got them from here when searching for a gender neutral term post/83083297985/what-is-a-wix**

**I know that Witch is used mostly as a gender neutral term as well, but it's mostly associated with female magic users in stories as of late, so I thought it would better to use a term like Wix.**

**and before you ask yes, Robin is Agender and goes by they/them, just to clear that up in case anyone was confused.**

**Thank you for reading! Please let me know what you think! If you have any questions about the story I'll be happy to answer them, unless they're spoilery of course ;)**

**In the next chapter we'll get what I feel like some of you have been waiting for, Andrea goes to high school! What can go wrong?**


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